Gunned Down Love (old discontinued shit)
by ZetsubouAi
Summary: A collab story. Gaara's past is dark. everyone in the whole school knows it. but Naruto can't help but be curious. he wants to be friends with him, to at least help him let go of whatever had happened. warnings: BL, maybe yaoi, gore, & violence...
1. Prologue

New story! This one will be a collab, but for the prologue, I wrote it myself to get the story started. This one might be a slow updater, since it depends on many different factors. and: **Gaara;** _Naruto;_ Song lyrics. The song is Gunning Down Romance by Savage Garden.

* * *

Love and other moments are just chemical reactions in your brain  
In your brain  
And feelings of aggression are the absence of the love drug in your veins  
In your veins

**Him. Why was it him? I was fine alone. Then he came, and everything went wrong. He is at fault for this. Not me…**  
_  
_Love come quickly  
Because I feel my self-esteem is caving in  
It's on the brink

_It's all my fault. I'm the one that pushed him over the edge. If it wasn't for me, I wouldn't have this…emptying feeling right now…_

Love come quickly  
Because I don't think I can keep this monster in  
It's in my skin

**This never would have happened if he had left me alone from the beginning. He knew from the start that this kind of risk was involved…**

Love and other socially acceptable emotions are morphine  
They're morphine  
Cleverly concealing primal urges often felt but rarely seen  
Rarely seen

_What is this feeling though, I wonder? I feel so…empty, but yet I feel shamed somehow…_

Love I beg you  
Lift me up into that privileged point of view  
The world of two

**He knew I was like this. The physical violence towards others…hell, towards him! It should have tipped him off at one point…**

Love don't leave me  
Because I console myself that Hallmark cards are true  
I really do

_I saw this coming…but that doesn't stop me from hoping. Hoping that I can change him. Pull him out of darkness. That's how it's supposed to work, right…?_

I'm gunning down romance  
It never did a thing for me  
But heartache and misery  
Ain't nothing but a tragedy

**Maybe I cared about him, maybe I didn't. I'm not even sure myself. I don't want to care about anyone. I don't want him to care about me…**

Love don't leave me

_I love him. Even after realizing what he's done now. I love him…_

Take these broken wings  
I'm going to take these broken wings  
And learn to fly  
And learn to fly away  
And learn to fly away

**I'm not ready for this. I never will be. So this is the best way. The only way…**

I'm gunning down romance

_**The blood…it smells…stifling…**_


	2. Chapter 1

FINALLY

CHAPTER 1!

YOSH!

ONWARD!

* * *

Chapter 1

"Get your shit out of the car so I can leave!"

The porcelain-skinned, blood-haired boy lifelessly stared out the darkly tinted window, waiting a few more seconds to hear the exasperated sigh of his step-mother. His father's rising rage could be felt easily by the jewel-eyed teen, and he slowly grabbed his suitcase, opened the door, and slid out of the overly-expensive car. His door had barely been shut before his father sped off, leaving him standing alone at the entrance.

Sighing, the teen gazed up at the school, which was a large and stately building—his latest prison.

"Watch where you're going, freak!"

An icy glare silenced a now-frightened, small boy. Because of the people, Gaara never liked school. With this, his third year at the Barker & Johnstone Academy boarding school, he would be changing dorms. First and second years would share Barker Dorm, named after one of the founders of the school, who happened to be the younger of the pair. Third and fourth years would stay in the Johnstone dorm, obviously named for the other founder. The dorms were also separated by gender, with girls on the left half, and boys on the right, as seen when facing the buildings from the drive.

The thing Gaara dreaded the most, though, was that he would have to share a room, and it could be with either a third or forth year. The previous two years, he had shared a room with an arrogant prick named Sasuke. At first the boy was silent and kept to himself, but it wasn't long until Gaara's overly-emotional—and quite obviously gay—roommate showed his idiocy. If he wasn't talking of how he wanted to kill his brother (which Gaara could quickly silence him with telling him what it really was like killing a person), he was spouting out epics of his latest man-whoring, boy-chasing escapades. He constantly talked of his "blonde dobe," and other times some chestnut-haired boy a year ahead of them. Gaara never inquired about them, and yet the raven would still brag as if anyone cared.

It was Gaara's hope that he would get a better roommate this time. Not that he cared about homosexuality or any sexual orientation, but that he could not stand the boy's incessant prattle.

Making his way to the third floor of the eight-story building, the students around him parted slightly to allow him to pass, leaving a string of whispering clumps in his wake.

"319," he said to himself, almost a deep whisper. Gaara's eyes darted back and forth, the dread returning at the thought of finding his room, and more so of finding whoever or whatever lie within. All he needed this time was some gay kid that was worse than even that baka raven. Approaching the last set of doors in the hallway, he turned to the left, pulled out his key, and entered the room.

The first thing he noticed was that each light—spare the one on the ceiling—was covered neatly with dark material, reducing the ambient lighting significantly.

"Perhaps," a low voice announced from the darkness of a moderately tall shadowed figure in the corner, "perhaps you like more light?"

Gaara didn't answer.

"Good then," the voice went on, accepting Gaara's silence as a negative on more light. "That's good, because my eyes are a bit sensitive. My last roommate was a bit too bright and sunny for me. Luckily he graduated, and I doubt I'd have that problem, now that I've gotten a look at you."

As Gaara's eyes adjusted, the shadow moved forward into what little light the room had. The first thing he noticed was the teen's lilac-colored eyes. At a second glance, he noted the incredibly long chestnut hair, and skin as pale as his own.

"The name's Hyuuga. Hyuuga—"

"Neji," Gaara said, cutting him off. "I've heard of your little…'escapades' from the Uchiha."

Neji's cheeks flushed for a split second—for embarrassment or anger, Gaara couldn't tell—and his eyes glanced down slightly. "Well, that…he was just chasing me when Uzumaki denied him; which was most of the time. I was just unlucky enough to be caught, and could be controlled by my damn sensitive eyes."

Gaara let out a slight chuckle, and shook his head slightly as he strode over to his side of the room. "Well, I won't condone you for your past, but I don't want to hear about your future. That is a mistake that Uchiha made. I made sure he knew that before he and I left the other dorms, for sure."

As Gaara turned from the long-haired teen, he caught a visible flinch.

"Y-you were responsible for that incident?"

Gaara said nothing, and planned to say no more. He had said more than enough for the entire month already.

"N-never mind…fine, I'll leave you be. I enjoy silence and my own company as much as the next intelligent person."

The blood-haired teen smirked slightly to himself and plopped down on his bed. Thankfully, school wouldn't start until the next Monday, giving him four days to himself, away from most other students—especially the girls. He'd thought being called "monster" would deter moronic teenage fangirls, but these days, the girls were entirely…well, creepy and deranged. _But,_ Gaara thought, sighing slightly to himself, _at least it's only the girls. I can avoid them in the dorms._

oOoOoOo

"Alright! We're here!" cheered the small tan boy looking out the window.

"Remember you can come home whenever you want," the boy's foster father said.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be okay Iruka-sensei," the boy said, while practically jumping out of the car.

"Don't hesitate to call," Iruka continued like a worried mother.

"Chill dad," his son replied, taking his belongings out of the car.

"Have fun!" Iruka said driving off.

"Bye!" the boy yelled, waving off at the car. His blonde hair shined in the sun. This was his third year at Barker & Johnstone Academy boarding school.

"Naruto-kun!!" he heard someone shout to him. Naruto turned around to find his latest stalker, Uchiha Sasuke, running towards him.

"Sasuke…hey," Naruto spoke in a less than enthusiastic tone.

"I missed you!" the raven cried throwing his arms around the blonde.

"Teme, please let go," Naruto said as politely as possible.

"Fine, dobe," Sasuke pouted, letting go.

"So, how are you?" Sasuke said. It was obvious he didn't want the blonde to leave.

"I'm fine. I just wanted to find my room," Naruto replied pulling out the paper with his room number on it. Sasuke pulled it away from him and began to read.

"Aww man!" Sasuke whined.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked trying to seem concerned.

"We don't have the same room!!" Sasuke whined more.

_Thank you God!_ Naruto thought.

"But your room is right across from mine," Sasuke said with a smirk.

_You hate me don't you?_ Naruto thought looking up at the sky.

"Isn't it great?" Sasuke asked, much more enthusiastic than Naruto was.

"Greeeaaat, yeah," Naruto gritted out, looking back to Sasuke.

"I know!" Sasuke almost squealed. In one year he went from "calm and collected" to "gay and annoying." He was still his cocky self, but when he was around Naruto all that dropped. The blonde hated it. Sasuke stalked Naruto and he was two-faced, not a good combination.

"I'll have a better chance this year," the raven muttered under his breath.

"Have a better chance at what?" Naruto asked, already knowing the answer.

"Oh, nothing," Sasuke said shaking his question off.

_Great. He's gonna try again this year! God, you really do hate me, don't you?_ Naruto thought, looking back up at the sky.

"SASUKAAAAY!!" Naruto heard two girls shouted at the same time. A pink haired girl, Haruno Sakura, and a girl with long blonde hair pulled into a pony tail, Yamanaka Ino, came up to the two.

They were the only two Sasuke fangirls who wouldn't accept Sasuke as gay, even though it was blaringly obvious the raven was. He repeatedly tried to rape and kiss Naruto whenever the two were alone, and the whole school knew. Neji saw them once and told the whole school. Sasuke got himself a little something, something when he found Neji. Sasuke was happy and Neji was mortified for a while. The brunette didn't satisfy him for long though; Sasuke wanted a challenge, so he went back to Naruto.

"Hey girls," Sasuke said in the same voice Naruto used when he first spotted Sasuke. As Sasuke was distracted by his fangirls, Naruto made his get away.

He walked into the Johnstone dorm, trying to find the door labeled 313. "Unlucky number..." Naruto said to himself, opening the door.

He was immediately attacked by a small dog, yapping at his feet.

"Akamaru!" A boy with short brown hair shouted at the dog. "Hey Naruto. Remember me? Inuzuka-"

"Kiba," Naruto finished for him. "Yeah I remember."

Naruto knew Kiba from his former roommate, Aburame Shino. Shino had a scary obsession with bugs so he had them everywhere. In the beds, in the bathroom, EVERYWHERE! As for Naruto, well he had an irrational fear of bugs. He freaked out if he even saw one. He couldn't stand living with Shino. _Hopefully Dog Boy is better than Bug Boy,_ Naruto thought. Kiba was also inadvertently how Naruto got his first stalker, Hyuuga Hinata. It's always the quiet ones.

Naruto placed his suitcase on the bed Kiba hadn't already claimed and began to put his belongings away.

"Damn, it must suck to have Sasuke as a boyfriend," Kiba said while petting his dog.

"Sas_gay_, is not my boyfriend!!" the now infuriated blonde shouted.

"Sorry man. I was just joking," the brunette said jumping back.

"I over reacted. Sorry, but Uchiha freaking stalks me!" Naruto said, attempting to calm down.

"I feel sorry for you," Kiba said walking out of the room.

"Me too," Naruto said to no one.

The tan skinned boy moved his suitcase and laid it on top of his bed. _Four days,_ Naruto thought. _Four days of dodging Sasuke and his fangirls._ All the girls who finally accepted Sasuke as gay blamed Naruto—and more than half the girls at that school were Sasuke fangirls.

Naruto planned on staying in his room. He was a hyperactive child but at times he was avoidant. This was one of those times. He had to get used to his foster father not being around.

oOoOoOo

"_NARUTOOOO!!"_

"_SHUT THE HELL UP TEME!"_

Gaara woke up the next morning to something he had hoped _never_ to wake up to again.

"_NARUTO COME BACK!!"_

Sasuke's voice echoed in Gaara's head for several minutes as he tried to wake up completely. Back when he had roomed with the raven, the baka had once woken the red-haired teen with his girlish squealing. It was the first and last time that ever happened. Even now, it seemed the Uchiha would never give up on the blonde ball-o'-sunshine.

Of course, Gaara couldn't care less about the two of them; he couldn't care less about anyone in the school, or anywhere in the general vicinity of himself, for that matter. Keeping to himself suited him best, so he did so as often as possible.

At home, Gaara didn't leave his own room, as not only was he afraid to leave it, but the door was locked from the outside anyway. Not that he cared, as that left him to his own thoughts. The only speed-bumps occurred when he was forced to go to a public primary school. It was then that he developed his "monster" reputation.

_Those bastards deserved it anyway,_ Gaara thought.

The instant he joined the school, at age 8, he was ridiculed. He had never learned how to interact with others, and this isolated him instantly. He had a selfish streak the size of Mars, especially when it came to "snack time." Being locked in his room 24/7, he was given minimal food, so he was used to protecting it with his life like a feral animal. This deficiency of nourishment also had stunted his growth—as he was 17 and still only 63 inches in height—and caused him to seemingly permanently keep a frail, slender figure.

But, even with keeping to himself, and a slight habit to act as if he were feral, he quickly lost his temper—and mind. Not that he cared. Those bastards deserved what he did to them. Each and every singe one, each and every single time—especially the Uchiha.

The redhead narrowed his eyes at the ceiling, pushing his thoughts of his past back into the deepest depths of his mind. Now was the time to forget all that, and to just try to keep as far away from others as possible. His habits weren't _too_ abnormal if he was left alone, other than his weekly ritual.

Gaara nearly chuckled to himself as he turned his head slightly to glance at the lightly snoring Hyuuga. Sasuke freaked the first time he saw Gaara in his ritual, and the blood-haired teen was intrigued to see how the chestnut-haired Neji would react. Some would call it a love for shock factor, but for Gaara, it was necessary. Horrible consequences would develop if he left the ritual too long undone, and his roommate would find out soon enough in one way or another.

Gaara lay in bed for at least thirty more minutes. As he looked at the clock to see the time, 7 AM, Neji stirred.

"I would say 'good morning,' but I doubt it really is for either of us," Neji mumbled.

Gaara didn't respond, but silently climbed out of bed and headed towards the shower with a stack of clothing. Thankfully for Gaara, the rooms each had a small bathroom with a toilet and shower, so he wouldn't have to face anyone else in the morning—or middle of the night, as he was prone to showers at 2 or 3 AM.

He silently walked to the small room and carefully shut and locked the door behind him. Ever since he was young, he had a habit of locking doors when possible. It made him feel more at ease, though he was far from relaxed at any given moment.

Gaara glanced in the mirror, noticing his hair was getting longer. It was completely straight, blood red, and almost to his collarbone now. He never felt the need to put effort in cutting it, though. His hair grew fast, and would only get it cut once his father deemed it too long to be appropriate. Well, at least, his father would strap him down and make him get it cut, as Gaara liked it to be a bit longer, so he could pull it out of his way. He had several times been given compliments on his hair by his occasional stalker-fangirls, but it never really made any difference to him.

He pulled his shirt over his head, his eyes avoiding the mirror at this point. Even though he was the cause of the majority of them, he had no intentions of looking at the various scars scattered over his pale torso and back. Shedding his baggy dark jeans that he slept in, he stared at the floor for the same reason. He turned on the shower as hot as he could stand without burning his skin off and let the water beat down on him as he thought to himself.

_Classes on Monday..._ Gaara mused. _Let's see, there's Trigonometry…then English…then Chemistry…then Lab…and then damn Static Arts._ Gaara slammed his fist onto the wall of the shower. "Why the hell do they put me in the damn art class every year?" he mumbled angrily.

It wasn't that he was bad at art; he was an amazing artist, with a unique mix of macabre and surrealism in everything. He was praised by a professional art critic at age 10. But with this, he couldn't care less about creating art that would be seen by anyone, and he hated even more having to create his art in front of onlookers. His art was something he desired to keep to himself. Gaara wouldn't even look at his artwork after he finished it, because it lost its artistic quality to him.

Turning off the water, Gaara climbed back out of the shower and dried off. He pulled on a fresh pair of boxers and slipped into a pair of straight black jeans and a blood-red shirt. Next, Gaara pulled his blood-red hair back into a low ponytail and tucked the shorter strands from the front behind his ears—at least, the ones that would stay back there. Next came the covering of the insomniac's circles under his eyes, as he expertly—and thickly—lined them with black eyeliner, which caused a sharp contrast to his pale skin. He glanced in the mirror one more time, his tattoo quite visible on his forehead, a ghosting of freckles showing along the tops of his cheeks and across his nose, and then flinched as he saw his most recent mark. He lightly traced the long, fading red line down the inside of his left arm, wondering what he'd have to do for next week's ritual. Gaara smirked weakly, pulled on a dark grey System of a Down zip-up hoodie, gathered his things, and left the bathroom.

Back in the room, it was still quite dark, and Gaara could sense that the lilac-eyed boy had left already. Gaara grabbed his sketchbook and charcoal pencils, put them into his small black messenger bag (black was nice so that the vandalism of other random students wouldn't be visible…usually), and left the room, squinting at the change in the light level.

As he walked towards the stairs, a flash of yellow streaked by him; then he was knocked over.

"Oww…" Gaara heard an all-too-familiar voice whine. "What the hell was that for? Don't you watch where you're-"

The redhead glanced upward to see the horrified, yet still strangely composed, face of Uchiha Sasuke. His eyes narrowed as the raven quickly scrambled to get off of him.

"S-sorry…" he stammered for a second, and then quickly slapped a silly grin back on his face. "Oi, dobe! Wait up!"

Gaara snarled as he glared the black-haired teen down the hallway. Naruto stopped in his tracks and looked back, an annoyed look on his face. Gaara watched the blonde's eyes flash to himself quickly, and then he turned and continued running from the squealing homosexual.

Gaara picked himself up and finished the trip to the stairs. He had to make it to the abandoned classroom on the other side of the campus before he ended up killing someone. In that classroom, nobody would appear suddenly to bother him, and he could spend his four free days in peace.

It didn't take long to reach the run-down room. The walls were covered with graffiti, and several desks were knocked over or just utterly demolished. Gaara weaved through the wreckage and claimed the one desk that was clean and unaffected by the chaos around it. He pulled out his materials and prepared to sketch. He would pour his entire being into the artwork he did, as this was his only release. But pity be on those who ever discovered his artwork, as they would most likely be too terrified to ever close their eyes again in fear of the image returning.

oOoOoOo

Naruto awoke the next morning to someone breathing on his neck. The blonde looked around the room and Kiba was no where to be found. He rolled over to find the Uchiha cuddled up next to him, sleeping soundly. Naruto had come to the possibilities either he was in a nightmare or Kiba left the door open/unlocked. After pinching himself so many times and so hard that he had huge red welts covering his forearms that were beginning to bruise, he concluded he was awake. Next to figure out: did Kiba leave the door open on purpose or by accident. Thinking that through, Naruto decided if Kiba had done this for kicks he would be here to watch.

Instead of screaming at the raven, like he usually did, he gently shook him and quietly called, "Teme, wake up…come on, Sasuke."

"N-Naruto?" the pale boy questioned, still half asleep. After a few seconds, Sasuke regained full consciousness. "Naruto!" he said, shooting up and crossing his legs and making sure to face his love interest.

Naruto was laying down with his head propped up with his hand, making sure that his stalker didn't do anything inappropriate. In the sweetest tone Naruto could use, he questioned, "What the hell are you doing in my room? And why the hell are you in my bed?"

Sasuke thought for a second, then replied, "Oh, last night was fun."

"What!?" Naruto almost shouted, sitting up straight. "Don't tell me we…" He didn't even want to think of that.

"Yep." Sasuke smiled.

"Oh God!" Naruto said throwing his face into his hands.

Sasuke just sat smirking.

"You have to be kidding me!!" Naruto pleaded, his face filled with horror and disgust.

"Of course I am, dobe," Sasuke said like it was obvious.

Naruto glared at Sasuke before shouting "Go away teme!"

"Fine," Sasuke replied, getting out of Naruto's bed. Naruto followed to lock the door. Sasuke turned around. "Oh, before I forget: Morning sunshine!" he chirped cheerfully, stealing a kiss from the blonde.

"Leave!" Naruto shouted pushing him out the door and locking it behind him.

Naruto grabbed some clothes and went to take a shower. He had to wash the smell of Sasuke off him, and possibly scrub off his lips at the same time. The blue eyed teen double-checked the lock on the door just in case the raven found a way back in the room. Naruto slipped off his white tee shirt and glanced at his arms. The purple and brown marks on them clashed with the cuts on his wrists. Naruto had had the oddest habit since he was about six: every two weeks on a Thursday at three in the morning he had to slit his wrists. He just had to! He felt incomplete if he didn't. One time in middle he tried to stop. He was a crazy, jittery, paranoid mess for a month. Everyone began to avoid him more than they did before. Naruto decided it was best not to question his habits.

He had been on his own till he was about thirteen. That's when his teacher, now foster father, took him in. Iruka's childhood was much like Naruto's—minus the slit wrists and being avoided—so Iruka took to Naruto quickly. After a series of events, Iruka adopted Naruto.

The blonde boy glanced in the mirror. He was much too skinny, even though he usually ate about five bowls of ramen a day. Though it was true he never ate lunch, the ramen should have more of an effect on keeping his weight stable. Naruto was about average height, being 65 inches tall. The boy then dropped his boxers and slid under the warm water. Showers were Naruto's escape from everything.

_Fucking teme! Fucking freaking me out like that! Fuck!_ Naruto shouted into the depths of his mind. Finishing, he turned the water off and jumped out, not bothering to look in the mirror.

The tan boy pulled on some clean boxers and a pair of baggy blue jeans. Next, he wrapped his arms in white bandages. Because Naruto wore the bandages everyday, no one thought much to ask about it. Or, rather, no one really cared enough to ask. After pulling his black tee shirt on over his head he began the fiddle with his necklace. It was a long blue crystal on a thick black cord. The person he won it from told him it was unlucky but he didn't listen to her and wore it anyway.

The blonde then brushed his hair. When wet his hair was short and choppy, the ends just barely touched the back of his neck; when dry, it was in blonde spikes. Before leaving the bathroom Naruto looked in the mirror and ran a hand down the three whisker marks on his left cheek, then over the three on his right. "Monster," he whispered to himself. Naruto gathered his dirty clothes and walked out.

He dropped his clothes at the end of his bed and glanced at the clock, it read 6:27 AM. _Bastard woke me up early!_ Naruto yelled in his mind.

"Aww, your so cute when your wet," he heard come from behind him.

Naruto didn't say a word or even glance back at Sasuke as he put on his favorite orange jacket; Naruto loved the color orange.

"NARUTOOOO!!" Sasuke wailed trying to get the blonde's attention.

"SHUT THE HELL UP TEME!" Naruto shouted as he headed over to the opposite side of the room.

"NARUTO COME BACK!!" Sasuke called as Kiba walked in the door.

"Damn you guys are loud!" He turned to see Sasuke sitting on his bed. "Naruto, why is he here if you don't like him?" Kiba asked motioning to Sasuke.

"Ask him! The bastard was curled up next to me while I was sleeping!" Naruto snapped while trying to keep his cool.

Kiba chuckled wildly.

"It's not funny!" Naruto growled.

"Okay! Okay!" Kiba said throwing his hands up defensively.

The two roommates then looked at their unwanted homosexual guest, expecting an answer.

"The door was unlocked and I wanted time with Naru!" the raven said, looking at the object of his love with lustful eyes.

"Kiba, please make sure to lock the door!" Naruto pleaded.

"Umm, yeah…okay…sorry..." Kiba mumbled while feeding his dog.

Sasuke went and sat next to Naruto, as the blonde was now sitting on his own bed. Kiba, seeing enough of the gay love, walked out with his dog. Sasuke, thinking of this as an opportunity, swung his legs over the other boy's lap and moved in to kiss him once again.

"Get the fuck of me!" Naruto yelled, pushing Sasuke to the ground. Naruto the got up, drag the boy to the door, and pushed him out. "Get friends!" Naruto shouted as he slammed the door in Sasuke's face. "Almost two fucking times in one fucking hour!" (Fuck was Naruto's favorite word) The blonde locked the door yet again and laid on his bed.

Sleep was Naruto's favorite pastime; well, that and photography. He could always capture things in a way others couldn't. He was able to show people what they miss, whether it was something in a person or in nature; all he had to do was hide behind his camera. Naruto felt pictures made time freeze, if only for a moment. In that short moment, it showed people's true feelings, it showed true beauty, even if the picture was something you would consider disgusting. That was Naruto's gift with a camera. He made simple things look elegant and disgusting things beautiful.

After dozing in and out for about an hour, Naruto heard the door open. He saw Kiba walk in, leaving the door open yet again. Kiba seemed to never lock doors or keep them closed, and Naruto knew this was going to be a habit he had to change. He was not going to be miserable for another two years.

The blue-eyed teen had no idea what to do, so he thought he would go develop his film. He grabbed his camera, said bye to Kiba, and headed for the school's dark room, his favorite place to be. He stopped when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Narutooo," the person behind him almost sang.

Naruto took off, not looking back. He ran past blobs of brown, a flash of red and black, then back to blobs of brown.

He heard mumbles of voices behind him and only turned around when he heard Sasuke shout, "Oi, dobe! Wait up!"

Naruto glanced to see the red and black flash was actually a redheaded boy dressed in black. 'Do I know him?' Naruto thought for a second, but took off again when he saw Sasuke chasing after him.

Naruto ran around for a while, running all around the campus. After losing Sasuke in a crowd of people, he slipped back into the school. Along the way, he caught a glimpse of that redhead Sasuke ran into earlier walking into an abandoned classroom. Naruto continued down the hall into the dark room. There he could hide from Sasuke while doing what he loved.

"I am so glad Sasuke doesn't know I love photography!" Naruto chirped happily as he worked.

* * *

HECK YES!

collab with a fwiend on devART. i'm Gaara, and she's doin' Naru. I've actually started typing up the next part even, as i want to get this one rolling smoothly. and, just like it says on the description, this will be HORROR. so, i will be putting in some warnings if you don't like to read that kind of stuff. i bet y'all can tell a difference in the writing styles b/t us. --

iono. i sure can, but that's just me.

i left a few tiny hints about stuff about Gaara's past involving family and the time he had to bunk with Sas_gay_. but the real goings on b/t the two of them (mainly the "incident" people are referring to) may or may not come out in the next chapter. which i hope to get out ASAP.

leave me loves!

now...i must continue it...


	3. Chapter 2

heya heya my readers -.-

i'm back, i think. i'm still a bit messed up in the head, but, that's what helps me write anyway :D  
so, i hope to not get lost again...

aaaanyways...on with the story!  
**warnings: some violence/gore kinda shit...but you should expect that with this story!**

* * *

Chapter 2

Gaara slammed his fist into the desk. No matter how much he'd like to draw while he had the time, not a single thought would flow into his steady hand. The redhead purged his mind, trying to free himself of all thoughts. It was all that raven's fault; if he hadn't have been running around after the Uzumaki like the freakish fag he was, Sasuke wouldn't have run into him and disturbed his "peace of mind"—if it could be called that. Gaara decided that he'd have to punish the Uchiha. He stood, gathered his things once more, and set off in search of the dark-haired homosexual.

It didn't take long to find Sasuke, since the teen had been running around, Gaara assumed, in search of his latest romantic interest. Hearing the raven calling down the hall, Gaara hid himself around the corner. Messing with the fag's mind was almost as fun as physical torture. As Sasuke came close, the redhead slid out in front of him.

"You should slow down, Uchiha." The words slid off his tongue like venom as he caught the taller teen by the hair and pulled, hard.

Sasuke gasped in pain, "G-Gaara…w-what do you want?" Fear was written on the boy's face, and Gaara liked that.

Not even responding to the terrified teen, the redhead dragged him by the hair back to his abandoned classroom.

Gaara threw Sasuke to the floor, the taller teen colliding with some run-down desks in the process. Sasuke cried in pain weakly and made no attempt to stand. The redhead advanced, wrapping one hand around the other's neck and picking him up again. For his height, weight, and build, Gaara was astonishingly strong.

"I thought you would be smart enough to stay away this year," he snapped, his icy eyes piercing into Sasuke's dark ones.

"S-sorry…" he choked out repeatedly.

"Shut. Up." Gaara slammed his victim against the wall, still choking him slightly. "Since you didn't learn last time, I'll have to teach you the same lesson again." With his free hand, he undid and pulled off Sasuke's belt. He shoved the teen into an empty chair and strapped him into it with the belt, pulling it tighter until the raven whimpered in pain once again.

Retracting from the shaking frame tied to the chair, Gaara set down his messenger bag and began to dig through it. "Your presence disturbed my…peace of mind. Even more so than before. So I must reteach you." The redhead pulled a switchblade from the bag. The handle was black with a silver inlay, and was around 4 inches in length; the blade held a spring-loaded release, and the blunt side was lightened with laser-cut cutouts. This blade was the last gift he had received from his siblings before they were thrown out by his father and step-mother; it held great importance to him, and had defended him faithfully many times over, among other things.

"I think you know my blade, Kuro, fairly well," Gaara stated, heading back to the terrified raven. "I used him to teach you before, didn't I?" Seeing the pale teen turn even paler pushed the redhead to a smirk, and even some slight laughter. He definitely loved mind games almost as much as physical torture. He strode up to Sasuke and leaned in close. With the blade still retracted, he dragged the handle across the boy's face, letting him feel the coldness of the metal inlay.

Sasuke flinched, and pleaded with the crazed teen, "P-please Gaara…I swear I'll keep away from you…please…"

Gaara silenced the Uchiha as the blade shot out, merely centimeters from slicing the homosexual's face. "Like hell I'll give you a second chance," he sneered. "You blew that last year. I will make you learn from your mistakes."

Ignoring the further pleas of the taller teen, Gaara cut open the raven's shirt, revealing his pale torso and some large scars that weren't known of by many. Sasuke's frantic begging only encouraged the icy-eyed male, and he lightly grazed over each scar—not enough to leave new ones, but just enough to cause slight pain and discomfort. But, the dark-haired boy, being the fag he was, still let out a yelp.

"You are still as much of a wimp as before, ne?" Gaara asked mockingly, narrowing his eyes. "Well, let's see how much you react to this." The crazed teen cut a bit deeper, slicing a jagged line across Sasuke's stomach.

Sasuke let out a scream as blood began to flow ever so slightly from the moderate gash. It wasn't enough to need stitches, but it sure was enough to bleed.

"The more you cry out, the more I like it, fag." He traced his knife perpendicular to his most recent mark, and used the blood on the tip of the knife to scratch kanji into the Uchiha's stomach lightly right above it. "Zetsubou," he said, mostly to himself.

Looking up a bit, he turned his face towards Sasuke's and leaned inward again. He placed the knife's blade along the raven's cheek, letting it dig in a bit. "I'm only just beginning to have fun with you, fag. This is will be…my daily entertainment."

Sasuke visibly bit his tongue, knowing that reactions were what encouraged the redhead to go further.

Gaara's hand twitched a bit, prepared to cut in again, when the voice of an unexpected guest stopped him.

"Sasuke?"

The teen wheeled where he stood, only to see the blonde from before.

"NARUTO!?" Sasuke cried out with a hopeful tone.

Gaara and the blonde stared at each other for a split second, but the redhead quickly broke eye contact, grabbed his messenger bag, and headed towards the door. As he reached Naruto, he paused to speak. "Your lover is quite lucky you came…I don't like…witnesses…"

He slid from the room, not waiting for a response from the obviously startled teen and leaving the two to decipher the events of the past several minutes on their own.

Upon reaching his room, Gaara stormed to the bathroom to wash his precious knife. He sped past his roommate, not even giving the older male any time to question him. The small teen slammed and locked the door, throwing his bag on the tiled floor. He placed his hands on the edge of the sink and glared into the mirror, his bloodied knife still in his hand.

"Damn that fag and his lover," Gaara cursed. "Now I have to do my ritual early. If he hadn't have come, I would have been free for a few weeks even." He lifted the bloody knife and his shirt, exposing the creamy white skin of his own stomach. Not even making the slightest sound, he dragged the blade across his stomach diagonally, a bit deeper than he had before on the raven.

oOoOoOo

"Finally alone," The fox-like teen said to himself. Naruto was hanging up a photo when a scream penetrated his ears causing him to drop it in the chemicals below him. "FUCK!" The blonde almost yelled as quickly took the photograph out and hung it up. "Stupid fangirls." He peeked out the small window of the door to see if anyone was there. Naruto did happen to see an angry, blood-lusting, redhead drag a scared, flailing Sasuke into an abandoned classroom.

_I-it's nothing._ he thought. _Sasuke was being a fag and that guy got mad..._ The incident from that morning replied in his head. "Wait that's the guy Sasuke ran into earlier.' Naruto heard more screaming. "Damnit Sasuke!" Naruto said, slipping out the door, hoping that there wasn't enough light sneaking in to mess up his work. He tried to stay calm he walked down the hall. The blonde peeked in the door and saw a blade slice Sasuke's stomach; Naruto's eyes grew wide and he listened to the redhead go on.

_I gotta stop this._ The blonde may not like Sasuke much, but that doesn't mean he wanted him to be hurt. He carefully opened the door. _What do I say?!_ he thought frantically. "Sasuke?" _**God job Naruto like that would help!**_ a sarcasm-filled little voice in his head procliamed. _Shut up!_ Naruto snapped back. "NARUTO!?" Sasuke's voice broke up the fight within him. Naruto stared at the still unknown redhead before him _What the fuck is his name?!_ Naruto questioned himself. He continued staring at the redhead until he broke eye contact.

The aquamarine eyed boy grabbed his things and headed towards the door, as he reached Naruto, he paused to speak. "Your lover is quite lucky you came…I don't like…witnesses…"

Naruto wanted to scream "He's not my lover!" but thought it be best if he stayed quiet. Once the boy left Naruto ran up to Sasuke, who was breathing heavily.

"Naruto!" The frightened boy yelled.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked. _**That was a stupid question!**_

"What the hell do you think!?" Sasuke snapped. He began whining. "That psycho cut me!"

"Right, right," Naruto said apathetically as he untied Sasuke.

The raven hissed in pain a bit. "...thanks, Naru. I-I don't know how bad it might have been if he k-kept going."

The blonde was in horror. "He'd do worse?!"

"Hell yea! just look at that freak...he scares the shit out of me…" The pale boy's face contorted in fear again.

"Who is he?!" Naruto still had no clue who the redhead was.

"Gaara! you know about him, right?"

_Gaara? That sounds familiar,_ Naruto thought still trying to remember. "Umm. No? I've seen him, but I don't know about him," he mumbled, still in confusion.

"You mean you didn't hear about him? I thought everyone knew him…"

"I didn't. I don't talk to people much." The blue eyed teen laughed, a tad embarrassed.

"Oh...hey Naru, remember that time I was at the hospital for a while? A long while?" he asked, looking thoughtful.

"Yeah."

"Well...that was because of him."

Naruto was in awe. _That's the kid who did that to Sasuke?!_ "He's not very nice." He commented, crossing his arms.

"Fuck no, he's not…" Sasuke trailed off for a moment. "I used to share a room with him, back in the other dorm."

"What's his problem?! I know your annoying, but to not to _that_ extent," he said, still shocked.

Sasuke snorted, still sitting in the chair. "Well, I don't know what happened, but near the end of the year last year, he completely flipped."

"Somebody's lost their marbles," Naruto joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Yeah...he would always glare at me while we sat in the room, and I swear he watched me sleep or something." Sasuke sounded paranoid, then he paused and looked around the room before continuing. "He kept getting weirder and weirder."

_Subject change,_ Naruto thought. He pointed to the scared boy's stomach in front of him. "Shouldn't you stop that from bleeding?"

Sasuke glanced down. "Aw, shit!" the cut teen replied worriedly. He then looked up at Naruto with a puppy eyed look. "Will you bandage me, Naru?" Sasuke said, trying to seem innocent.

"With what?!"

"Uh...I don't know…"

Both boys looked around the room.

Naruto held out his hand. "Give me your shirt," he sighed.

Sasuke grinned and said, "I knew you'd warm up to me." He then stripped his shirt off and handed it to the blonde.

"Shut up," Naruto said calmly as he took it. "I just don't think you should be bleeding so much."

The raven pouted. "Fine. I won't tell you why you should watch out for that freak," he said trying to get the blonde's attention.

"Hold still!" Naruto commanded, tying the shirt around Sasuke's wound. "Wait why should _I_ watch out for him?"

"Because everyone else already does. 'Cause they know. Not everything, but they know some of it. I know it all. Since i was the one he got to" he explained.

Naruto tied a knot to keep the shirt in place. "All better. I think..." The blue-eyed boy trailed off a bit. "Anyway, I'm sorry you had to go through that. No one deserves to be hurt like that."

Sasuke smiled weakly, "That's why you need to watch out for him...at least you don't have to sleep in a room with him…"

"What happened?" Naruto was intrigued.

"Well, one night, about a week before the hospital thing, I went to bed like I usually did. He wasn't in the room that night, so I was able to fall asleep easily. Then when I woke up, it was pitch black, and I couldn't move. In my sleep, he had gagged me, tied me up, and blindfolded me."

"What the fuck?!" escaped the blonde's mouth.

"Yeah! I freaked out and began trying to get loose, but it wasn't long before I heard him. And that kid's voice freakin' will scare the shit out of you if you can't see." The wounded teen's eyes revealed his fear.

"Oh wow." The other boy said, trying to be sympathetic.

"He kept my tied up for nearly a day, and then it just kept getting worse."

"Worse how?"

Sasuke fidgeted. "When he finally took the blindfold off and removed the gag, he pulled out his knife...that same one."

_Poor Sasuke. He's not that bad when he isn't trying to rape me,_ Naruto thought as he listened quietly.

"Then...then he kept cutting me...over and over again...the more I reacted, the more fun he thought it was. He's like some sadistic freak or something. After a few more days, he dragged me to an abandoned room, like the one before, because I was being too loud," Sasuke explained.

"Oh my god!" Naruto almost shrieked. He was a bit feminine for a boy sometimes.

"For a week, I was trapped by the psychopath...and he just kept torturing me more and more... when he finally let me go, I couldn't get my courage up to say anything. The only reason I went to the hospital was because I passed out from anemia while in class," Sasuke explained.

"Somebody wasn't loved as a child," Naruto commented, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

"When I finally got checked out of the hospital, my dad forced it out of me who did it, but he kept the incident from the news. though he made sure that I didn't get stuck in the same room again." The raven finished his recollection, still fidgeting nervously.

"Well at least your not in there anymore," Naruto said trying to cheer him up.

"I know…" Sasuke said trying to control the fear in his voice.

"Speaking of which who did you get stuck with this year?" he asked, trying to change the subject.

Sasuke pouted. "No one fun. Gaara's freaky brother is in my room."

"He has a brother?" Naruto asked, surprised.

"Yeah, an older brother. Kankuro. All he does is play with puppets and ignore me."

"That's a bit creepy," Naruto said calmly.

Sasuke sighed, "Yeah, but he doesn't seem to be psycho like Gaara. If something happens again like last year, my dad's gonna be pissed. I swear, he'll end up suing or something."

"Oh wow. I just have Kiba; he's obsessed with his dog," The blue-eyed boy mentioned, sounding like they didn't compare.

"At least he leaves the door open for me." Sasuke grinned slyly

_Old Sasuke's back,_ Naruto the thought. "Ugh I need to get that fixed," he said, more to himself than Sasuke.

Sasuke began to panic. "But why Naru!? I like being able to see you any time I want."

"Dude. You need to stop. You've are becoming a full blown stalker," Naruto lectured.

Sasuke started pouting again. "But I love you Naru!" he whined.

"And I don't love you, teme," Naruto whined back.

The raven snorted "You're lying. I know you do."

"How many times do I have to tell you Sasuke. I'M NOT IN LOVE WITH YOU." Naruto almost screamed the last sentence.

Sasuke smirked. "It's just a matter of time."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Get over yourself."

"You're no fun," the other teen grumbled, crossing his arms.

"Yes, yes. Now if you don't mind I need to get back to something. Good bye." Naruto turned to walk away.

Sasuke snorted and latched onto Naruto's arm. "You think I'd let you leave me! I'm a...a traumatized victim!"

"I really need to get back," Naruto explained brusquely as he pushed the homosexual off and ran.

Sasuke whined again and started chasing Naru. "NARUTO WAAAAIT!!" he called.

"Damnit. Sasuke their gonna get messed up!" Naruto tried to tell him.

"Whose they?" Sasuke asked as he followed.

"Nothing. GO AWAY!" Naruto ran faster. _Old Sasuke is definitely back._

"SAAAASKAY!" The platinum blonde and pink haired girls stopped Sasuke in his tracks.

_Thank you Ino and Sakura!_ Naruto snuck back into the dark room and went back to work. When he was finally finished he snuck back to his room carefully avoiding Sasuke.

oOoOoOo

Gaara choked a bit, and his knife clattered against the sink as his grip loosened. Blood oozed from the gash across his stomach. He stumbled backwards to the wall of the bathroom and slid to the floor, the pain coursing through his body. The redhead drug a hand across the wound, smearing his blood around, and then brought it to his face. With one finger, he drew various lines and markings with the crimson liquid, mumbling to himself as he did so. "Monster..." he whispered as his ice-colored eyes rolled back into his head. "I am...a monster."

Gaara began cackling madly as he slumped forward, but was interrupted by a soft knock on the door, followed by a small but low voice.

"Gaara...it's Neji. I don't know what you're doing in there...and I have no intention of...interrupting you...but the large smell of blood alarms me."

The redhead snapped back to reality as he heard his roommate step away from the door and then out of their room. His eyes narrowed as he had lost his pleasurable concentration. Gaara reached for the first aid kit on the shelf, expertly bandaging the slice across his midsection. "Damn that pale-eyed baka," he mumbled as he began to clean the mess of blood. He knew his bloodlust was satisfied for now, but his pleasure had been hindered.

After successfully tending to his self-inflicted wound as well as cleaning up the dark crimson smeared on the bathroom floor, Gaara made his way back into the room and to his bed. He climbed gingerly onto it, curling up in a catlike position.

_**It's not enough, kid.**_

Gaara shook his head and frowned. Why was that voice pestering him now. He had done enough for the week and he knew it.

_**I told you, it's not enough.**_

_Shut the hell up. I know it is, and that's all you'll get._

_**What's wrong? **_the voice asked mockingly. _**I know you...enjoy it even more than I do.**_

Gaara narrowed his eyes and scowled. _I couldn't care less about it. I don't need to feel those kinds of things._

_**Awww...come now, kiddo...you know you need it. **_Gaara could almost see the voice's taunting face. _**If not like that, you'll seek out the same pleasures from others.**_

Gaara snorted, _Well, that homosexual freak would have worked just fine._

The voice mulled over the thoughts quickly. _**Well, true, but not only were you interrupted, but LAST time, he wasn't aware of anything. I think this time he would have noticed. And you don't need that. WE don't need that. Do we, kiddo?**_

Gaara sighed and flopped backwards onto his pillow. _No...no we don't._

The inner voice was silent, leaving to rest again after it had made its point, waiting for the next full ritual. The redhead closed his eyes in thought, and then fell asleep before long.

He awoke in the middle of the night; exact time wasn't known, but he could hear his roommate's faint breathing and knew it had to be late. Ignoring the sharp twinge of pain, the teen climbed from his bed and head to the bathroom. To him, now seemed as good a time as any for a shower. He needed to clean and check the wound anyway.

Gaara locked the door behind him and stripped immediately. He then turned his eyes downward to the large bandage, and began to peel it off slowly. Wincing a little, the redhead prodded various places on the still-fresh gash on his stomach. The area around the wound was as red as his hair, but he had at least stopped bleeding. Gaara dug through his bag of personal medical supplies and found his needle and surgical thread. Giving no further thought, he cleansed the area with a mild antiseptic and began to neatly sew himself up. He always was prepared, as most of his rituals required medical attention such as this, but he would never admit himself to be cared for by anyone else. That would mean he'd have to trust someone else, and even further have to deal with their possible interference with his own issues. No, it was best for him to keep to himself. Besides, it was what he did best.

After showering, Gaara returned to his bed to catch whatever sleep he could, hoping for everyone else's sake that Sasuke wouldn't be what woke him up.

* * *

hahahahahahahaha...naming his knife Zetsubou...good name...it means "despair" if you don't know. pulled from the song by Maximum the Hormone called "Zetsubou Billy" which is used in the second ending of Death Note. the band is awesome, btw. that and, i like the way the characters look 絶望

the conversation b/t Naru and Sasuke is actually from a base convo b/t me and my partner, me being Sasu of course.

btw, if you're lost about time things, this is the end of Thursday. school starts on Monday. so, they have Fri, Sat, and Sun left in the story. (i got lost and had to think it out myself -.-)

i don't know how this happened, but i've noticed after reading the thing over again that BOTH of us gave the characters odd masochistic habits, and BOTH of us gave our characters a second inner voice...though Gaara's is a bit more bloodthirsty...  
i'll tell you now, i won't be referring to it as Shukaku, because that's not what i intend the voice to be. you can call it that if you want, but i won't be.

leave me loves!


	4. Chapter 3

yo, betches. we've gots another chappie for ya -le gasp-

it was only going to be a short chit-chat between out two main charas, but it ended up going on longer than i expected. but it got kinda interesting, so it's all good. onward, then, i guess.

* * *

Chapter 3

As luck would have it, Gaara _wasn't _woken up by Sasuke, but rather by his internal clock. _Better than yesterday, _he thought.

_**What, kid? I know you were hoping it would be that boy again. You love to torture him, don't you? **_The voice cackled deeply.

_Love. You imbecile, you know that can never happen. _Gaara sneered; love was one concept he knew of, but it was not something that was part of anything involving him. Even if he did highly enjoy the physical torture of others, especially the raven, "love" was not the word to describe it.

_**Call it what you will, but your excitement during your sessions speaks for itself.**_

Gaara could see the voice's toothy grin, but he chose to ignore it. He had more important things to do than argue with it. The voice would never secede, especially if it was losing the battle. Nearly all his memorable life the redhead had fought with the thing, but as he grew older, he knew it was better to ignore it most of the time. If he succumbed to it and became engrossed in the conversation, he would end up losing contact with reality for various periods of time—this wasn't a good thing once he began attending school. He accepted the voice as a part of himself, but nothing more; despite others' speculations, he did not have dual personality disorder, just possibly schizophrenia depending on the therapist's personal opinion.

Still shutting the voice out, he climbed from his bed and quickly changed into yet another set of dark clothes, this time his color focus being on a deep burgundy rather than a red. Though, it didn't hit him until he glanced at his faint reflection in the window that his shirt said "Fuck you" in large red letters. Quietly growling to himself for having such a cliché shirt, he slipped on his System of a Down hoodie again. He glanced at the clock; it was still fairly early. _Good, _he though, _not many people will be up yet._

Sliding the strap of his bag over his shoulder, Gaara headed out of the room. Right into another person. He stumbled and fell over onto the floor.

"Woah, sorry 'bout that," a slightly cheerful voice chimed.

Gaara didn't respond, and shook his head a bit.

"Oh, jeez, are you okay!?"

A tanned hand appeared in the readhead's vision. Ignoring it, he pulled himself up. "Watch it," he snapped.

"Oh, hey, you're Gaara!" the blonde teen in front of him exclaimed. "I'm really sorry about that," he explained, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck.

Unimpressed, Gaara turned his icy glare to the boy, "Everyone knows me, Uzumaki."

"I didn't, not until my...uhh...not friend explained it to me." He laughed nervously.

Gaara couldn't help but smirk slightly. "Oh, it was the homosexual freak, wasn't it?" Gaara leaned in closer, continuing, "Did he give you _all _the details?"

"Umm...maybe? He told me to stay away from you though." He paused for a second before finishing, "Which I'm not doing now..."

"Oh, he did, did he?" Gaara asked, narrowing his eyes. He knew the raven would blab to the sunny teen in front of him when he had left the two in the abandoned classroom.

"Honestly," Naruto began, "you don't really scare me that much. You probably could kill me if you really wanted to anyway from what I hear."

The blood-haired teen found himself smirking again. "Don't scare you...well...that's a first, I have to admit."

"Well, there's always room for a first," he commented while slipping his jacket on.

_What an odd person_, Gaara thought. "Ineresting..." he finally mumbled.

"What'd I do now?" the blonde asked while zipping up his jacket. "I'm annoying you, aren't I?"

A twisted expression formed over the ice-eyed teen's face. "Annoying? Well, I'd have to say yes...but I still find it intriguing that the Uchiha is so enamored with you to have..." His voice trailed off as he remembered some things Sasuke had said to him in the past. He could almost hear the raven squealing, "My Naru's the cutest, Gaara, you don't even KNOW!" or sometimes, "When I'm with Neji, I always am thinking of my Naru!" several times over. "...well," he continued, "it was his own fault."

"Hey, I know he's annoying, but it's really no reason to hurt people. Hell, you seem to be the only person who hates him more than me."

This time Gaara nearly chuckled. "No reason? I have plenty of reasons Uzumaki. Did he tell you why? He should know."

Naruto frowned, "I don't believe he did. It is Sasuke though, so he probably was just trying to make me feel sorry for him." He sighed, "Fucking fag..."

The redhead could feel this conversation was peaking his interest. He usually never deigned to talk so much within a month even, but this was a special occasion. "I bet he bawled his eyes you to you, didn't he?" He stepped closer to Naruto, smirking a bit once again. "I bet he cried to you after that, didn't he? I bet he told you I was a monster, didn't he?"

Naruto looked Gaara in the eye. "That about covers everything he called you, but don't go attacking him for that. It's just words. You learn to live with being called a monster after a while."

Gaara leaned in even further, his face now mere inches from the blonde's. "I couldn't care less about that. I know I am one." He narrowed his eyes, "It's his incessant prattle. Nonstop. He just _had_ to tell me about his homosexual escapades. Whether it was chasing after you or fucking that long-haired boy I now share a room with, he told me all of it." The redhead was rising in volume through this, but paid no notice to it.

"Look," Naruto began, "I don't really think you're a monster to start off with. I think you're more...misunderstood! People like to fear what they don't understand. But I'm probably being stupid again. Secondly, Sasuke's an idiot."

Gaara twitched a bit. "You..." he began, backing off slightly, "...you are an interesting one, Uzumaki."

"Uhh...thanks?" Naruto seemed unsure how to take the comment. "I really was just saying what I thought...and you can just call me by my first name..."

The redhead stared at the tanned teen in front of him for a few seconds, thinking carefully, before smirking yet again. "And here I thought this whole time you were just playing hard to get with the Uchiha..." he mumbled mostly to himself. "Intriguing...Naruto..." He cocked his head to one side like some kind of animal. "Truly interesting."

Naruto looked a bit flustered. "Playing hard to get!? Oh God, no. I'd rather jump off a cliff than be with him. I have nothing against him being gay, just him stalking me and not listening no matter how much I tell him I don't like him are the problems."

"The Uchiha never learns from his...mistakes either." The redhead shifted his weight onto the opposite foot. "You're definitely...not bad, Naruto." This conversation was giving him minor enjoyment, but it was getting time to end this unnecessary chatting.

"You're not so bad yourself," Naruto commented. He absentmindedly pushed up his sleeves of his jacket, but pushed them back down again after glancing at his arms. "So...uhh...nice to meet you?"

Gaara saw the marks on the boy's wrists, and the cuts were fairly fresh. It brought some pleasure to the blood-haired teen as he thought of the slitting of Naruto's wrists. He smirked, "I...see," he mumbled before turning to leave. "Goodbye...Naruto."

"Hey, wait!" the blonde piped up behind him. "Don't attack Sasuke anymore, please...I don't want him to start crying to me again."

Gaara stopped walking and turned to look at him. "I can't promise that. But...who knows..." he continued, turning away from Naruto again, "he might not be able to cry to you next time."

"Woah, wait!" Naruto cried desperately. "Don't kill him either! I don't want you getting in trouble because Sasuke's a dumbass."

Gaara turned completely around at this point. "Oh, really...I thought that you'd want to be rid of him."

"It's not worth _you_ getting into trouble," he said.

The pale teen stepped back towards him, "You're quite involved in other's issues, ne?" he said. "Why me?"

"Like I said: I'm not afraid of you. I think you're misunderstood," he responded firmly. "You're not the only one who's been called a monster before; us monsters have to stick together!" Naruto looked somehow cheerful, for a second, but absentmindedly he drug his hand over the triad of whisker markings on his cheek.

Gaara moved in close again, frustrated at this boy's words. "Uzu-...Naruto...what the hell could you possibly know?"

Cerulean eyes bored deep into jade ones. "Being hated and ignored by everyone I know most of my life? I think that qualifies."

Feeling his composure fall slightly, Gaara quickly adjusted himself. "You say that, but I doubt you'd understand."

Naruto began to speak, but was stopped by a sharp gasp. The two turned to see a very pale Sasuke standing not too far away. Gaara smirked a bit, and had begun to turn away when the raven began to speak.

"Nooooo Naru! I told you! I told you before! Why won't you listen!" His frantic cries raised in pitch as he continued.

Suddenly, Gaara felt a fairly strong hand close around his wrist, and then it began to drag him down the hall away from the squealing raven. In his confusion, he allowed himself to be dragged off by the blonde, even though the pale teen had fully intended to end the conversation and find some quiet in the abandoned classroom.

oOoOoOo

Gaara pulled his wrist free. "You better have a good excuse for this Uzumaki," he snapped. He was back to calling Naruto by his last name.

"I'm not sure really," Naruto admitted. "I wanted to continue our conversation. When someone gets you talking about things you never like to talk about you tend to not want other people to hear. Especially that teme," he attempted to explain.

The jade eyes narrowed. "I understand that point I guess...but I'm still confused as to what could possibly be such a touchy subject, Uzumaki."

Gaara seemed to be prying; Naruto was getting a bit annoyed with him calling him by his last name. It seemed too formal. "Ugh...call me by my first name!" he begged. "As for touchy subjects you seem to have a few yourself," the blonde pried right back.

The tone in the young redhead's voice was getting angry. "Na-ru-to," he began, emphasizing each syllable, "you have no idea what you're digging into."

"Neither do you," Naruto shot back. "I may seem all smiley and happy, but I do have some secrets locked away."

The red-haired boy frowned slightly. "You couldn't possibly have anything...no...it's…"

As he trailed off, Gaara's eyes become out of focus and he didn't seem to be completely there anymore. Naruto waved his hand in the readhead's face. "Hey Gaara? Are you okay?" he asked loudly.

Said smaller boy then whirled around and suddenly tackled Naruto. "No...no...you couldn't know...no one does...no one does…" he held Naruto down. His grip was strong, and the blonde squirmed a bit in his grasp.

"Gaara. calm down! No one knows what? Please let go of my wrists and tell me what's wrong!" Naruto was begging the boy above him.

Gaara began screaming and pulling his hair while moving off of Naruto. "No...no...noooo.…" He was writhing on floor.

Naruto began trying to hold him steady. "Dude, what's wrong? You need to calm down! 'No' what?"

He began to worry as Gaara muttered incoherently to himself. Then, after a few moments of silence, his eyes began to focus again and he calmed some, but he was breathing heavily.

"What…" Gaara stopped a moment to catch his bearings in the dark room. "What just happened…"

"You kinda screamed 'No one knows' repeatedly and tackled me then fell on the floor screaming 'No no no'…" Naruto explained bluntly.

Gaara clamped his mouth shut and thought for a minute. "...it...it happened again...damn him…" he mumbled to himself before glancing up at Naruto. "...could you let me go…?"

"Oh yeah. Sorry." Naruto sighed and let go the boy. He then looked down and noticed Gaara's hoodie begin to be stained red. "Wait...where did that come from?" he questioned.

Gaara's icy glare dug into Naruto. "It's not important," he replied as he began to dig through his bag.

"If you say so." Naruto was still a bit worried as he pulled his sleeves down again.

Gaara snorted at his actions. "You know hiding them is useless, Naruto," he said apathetically as he pulled out gauze from messenger bag.

Naruto tried to look innocent. "What?"

Gaara seemed like he was trying to chuckle, but it came out as a cough. "You know, the marks."

Naruto almost thought he heard him mumbling "beautiful cuts" as he pulled his shirt up and began to peel off the bloodied bandage. He inwardly cursed himself for forgetting to bandage his arms after he got out of the shower that morning. _DAMNIT! I tried so hard to keep them hidden and he sees. Ugh. I don't even understand why I've been cutting more. _Naruto had begun slitting his wrists more often than before. "Y-your the first one to actually notice.." he said in a low tone. _Well it looks like he has some issues too._

Gaara winced as the bandage was pulled away "Then people are blind."

_Maybe your just more observant, _he thought. "Would you like some help?" he asked.

Gaara thought for a second as he started to clean the now-visible stitched-up red line across his stomach. "If you want to help, get me some water or something."

"Sure." Naruto ran to sink in dark room and filled chemical tray with water.

Gaara took the tray silently, and wiped off the blood before re-wrapping his wound. "Naruto…"

"Yeah?"

"You…" Gaara paused. "You are smarter than I had thought," he said quietly.

"Heh, everyone usually thinks I'm stupid." Naruto went up to his photos and placed the dry ones in a folder.

Gaara seemed to be watching intently while he absentmindedly packed the medical supplies back in his bag. "Uchiha doesn't know this hobby, does he?"

"No one does really..." Changing the subject he continued on, "I just thought while we were here I could finish. I was on my way here when I ran into you."

Gaara continued to silently watch for a few minutes before he shakily stood up. "You puzzle me, Naruto."

"Well your confusing yourself. You had a breakdown in my dark room and then get up like it's nothing."

"That...may be...but it was nothing. But you...I'm not sure what to make of you," the readhead mumbled.

"I'm just full of surprises." Naruto messed with the film in his camera and placed it into the chemicals.

Gaara closed eyes for a moment. "I've never known someone to say they're unphased by me."

"Is that bad? Wouldn't you like to have at least one friend?"

Gaara looked confused. "Friend? W-why?"

Naruto was a bit shocked. "You seem to be like me more than you believe to be, and being alone is never that fun."

Gaara sat down and shut his eyes tightly. "Being alone is best. Best for me. Best for them."

"You can't say what's best for me! I want to be your friend!" Naruto stopped what he was doing and glanced up at Gaara.

The other boy was a bit taken aback and began blushing very, very slightly Naruto didn't see, though, being that they were in a dark room

"...N-Naruto," Gaara began.

"Yes?" He answered as he went back to work and hung up his photos.

"I...I..." Gaara stopped and shook his head. "...N-never mind." He stood and headed to the door.

"WAIT!" Naruto almost shouted and ran in front of the door. "You have to wait! The light will mess up my pictures."

Gaara stopped short and looked panicky like a trapped animal.

Naruto noticing this began to apologize. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to keep you locked up in here, but could you wait maybe ten minutes for me to clean this up?" he begged.

The aquamarine eyes flashed between Naruto, the door, and Naruto's projects before backing off and moving as far away from the boy as he could. "B-be quick." he said with hollow sharpness.

"Are you okay?" Naruto questioned before apologizing again as cleaned up the chemicals and such. "Don't be mad at me."

Gaara said nothing, but just sat silently, watching intently.

_Great...he is mad at me!_ Naruto thought. Minutes passed by before the blue eyed boy spoke again. "There all done. I'm really sorry," he said, apologizing for a third time.

The Gaara then escaped without further conversation.

"You did it again Naruto," he mumbled, talking to himself. "You ruined your chance at ever making friends with anyone!"

_**Stupid child.**_

"I know...monsters can't have friends...but...but I still...would like one." He finished in almost a whisper. _Oh well,_ he thought, forcing himself to look happier. _No need dwell on what you can't have._ Naruto put on his famous grin, grabbed his camera and folder, and went back up to his room, making sure to lock the door behind him.

* * *

meeeeeh. it was a fun chapter. almost entirlely roleplay :D

i don't know if you picked it up, but there's some hidden meaning behind what Gaara's inner voice says in the beginning of the chapter. and if you're cringing a bit right now as you think of it, you're probably thinking right. if you don't get it, the concept will be spelled out in later chapter(s).


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